Love and Loyalty
by AlyLuvsYou
Summary: What would happen if Calliope took Kate up on her offer to take her life-not Henry's? What can Henry do to help his Queen when he is a prisoner to Calliope? Henry knew he couldn't leave his son in the hands of such evil. He's torn between love and loyalty - right and wrong - and he's going to need Kate's help to get back on his feet...before it's too late. R
1. Chapter 1

**Full Summary:** What would have happened had Calliope taken Kate up on her offer to take her life instead of Henry's? What can Henry do to help his wife, his partner, his Queen when he is a prisoner to Calliope and Cronus? Henry knew he couldn't leave his son in the hands of such evil – he'd promised Kate. He's torn between love for his son and loyalty to his wife – right and wrong – and he needs Kate's help to get back on his feet…before it's too late for all of them.

**. . .**

**First Goddess Test story. I stared the books about two weeks ago and couldn't put them down. I even got the eBook on my kindle. Love them all.**

**Anyway, Kate is always playing hero, but no one gives her the chance to prove that she could help save them. Read alone as Kate steps up to the pitches mound and throws a hard ball at Calliope – one that even Cronus couldn't stop from coming at her. **

**The story is going to start abruptly at the beginning of The Goddess Inheritance when Henry first appears on the island. I tried to keep everything in order, but I changed her knowing how to communicate telepathically – she learned that a little bit early. You'll understand what I mean. Essentially, Kate and Henry's situations will be reversed. Kate will be on her death-bed and Henry will be mourning her. Nothing too confusing.**

**Enjoy!**

**. . . **

**Kate**

"Then kill me," I blurted. "Right now. In front of Henry, in front of the baby – just do it. Because I promise if you hurt either of them, I will make sure you spend eternity burning in Tartarus."

Calliope eyed me as if she didn't believe me, but she was weighing her options. Cronus, obviously not caring what happened to me anymore, stood idly by with a blank expression. He looked so much like Henry is hurt me to watch him just stand there and not care. Henry and the original six are his children (in a matter of speaking). I know Rhea understands love and compassion better than anyone else, but it was obvious that Cronus cared very little – if any at all – about anything but power and control.

In those few moments for Calliope's debate, I locked eyes with Henry. _Don't do this,_ he thought to me, his voice clear in my head as if we were standing right in front of me. _You need to be safe – for your mother's sake. For mine._ My heart melted when he said needed me, but it was too late. I had to do this. Anything to keep them safe.

_I'm sorry,_ I thought to him, pushing as much love as I could toward him. I don't know exactly how this telepathic thing worked, but I hoped it reached him. Maybe one day he would understand.

My eye shifted to Cronus. _I know you care about me, for whatever reason, and I don't think I will ever understand why. But you know she is going to try and kill me. And…honestly I don't care if she does. She can rip my soul in half, but please… Promise that Milo and Henry and the rest of the Council will be safe. Don't let her kill them, too. Promise me this one last thing._

He said nothing as Calliope's fire-y eyes flashed back to me. "You swear you won't try anything funny? You will let your death go smoothly?"

I watched Henry's face fall, and he looked around like he was waiting for something – waiting for a miracle to happen.

I nodded slowly, letting my hand slip away from the cradle behind me. If there was going to be blood, I'll be damned if any of mine got on my son. I took a step sideways away from Milo, but a fraction of an inch closer to Henry. Do I keep my word to Calliope and just die willingly? Or do I fight?

Before she could say anything else, Cronus exhaled, and fog crept across the floor of the nursery. "No." The word was barely a whisper, but it burned inside me, refusing to be ignored. "You will not harm Kate, my daughter. If she dies, so will you."

Behind the flush of excitement, Calliope paled. "You can either keep Kate or her spawn alive. Not both. Choose."

No. I couldn't let that happen. I couldn't give him the option to choose because I know that is what he wants. Me.

I saw a spark in Henry's eyes, like he was planning something. He was going to try to escape Calliope's grip. He was going to make me flee and leave him here. He was going to die…

No.

"No!"

I wouldn't let that happen. Not when there's still a breath left in me. Not when the last thing I want is for him to die this way.

It all happened in the blink of an eye. It happened faster than my brain could process in the haze of fear and worry. Henry jerked his body to keep Calliope's attention off me. With the knife shifted downward toward his chest, he had his chance, his moment to get away, but he stood there, pressing his back against Calliope, keeping her pinned to the wall behind her. But that damned dagger was still gripped tight in her hand, and with a cry of frustration, she dragged the point from the center of her chest to his left shoulder, leaving behind a gush of blood. Henry's blood.

Henry's eyes went wide and his mouth hung open in a silent cry of pain as he collapsed to the floor.

"No!"

I didn't know I could move as fast as I did, but when my body collided with Calliope's the wall behind her cracked and nearly crumbled under the impact. The dagger slipped from her hand and that hand found my neck. He grip was tight, and I couldn't breathe. But this is what I bargained for. This is what I wanted.

My gaze flicked toward Cronus, who hadn't moved since he appeared. _You said her fate lies with mine. You promised…_ He hadn't necessarily, but still. I was doing enough unless I tried. _Please. Don't let Henry die. Even if I do… He was to take care of my son. He is the only one… Please…_

Again, I wasn't sure if he heard me, but my time was up.

"You will obviously not go down willingly, so I guess I will take you down fighting." Calliope's words rang in my ears, and realization that I was stuck couldn't save me now. Her twisted, cruel smile appeared on her lips as something cold and evil slid into my abdomen. The dagger – it was in her other hand now. Pain exploded throughout my body and a scream of agony trapped itself in my throat, but I couldn't let it out.

Something rumbled the stone beneath me, but I was sure that it was my own body quivering violently.

"Cronus!" Calliope's voice was farther away then it should have been but, as my body crumpled from the lack of her grip and a wave of different kinds of power washed over me, I knew: the Council was here.

Maybe Henry will grab Milo and leave, take him to Olympus where he will be safe. Maybe the Council will take Calliope and Cronus down, and my son could live out his days with a father, unlike what I had.

I knew that wasn't the case when I left a hand on my shoulder, turning me from my side and onto my back. "Kate!"

Who was it? I couldn't tell. Everything seemed monotone and dull. Was this what dying felt like?

Someone pulled me up, gently cradling me in their lap. "Kate, look and me," a booming voice demanding, one that once sounded like dark silk.

"H-Henry…?" I tried hard to focus on his face, and soon my vision cleared slightly.

He gloomy features showed best in his face, but the love he left for me was there, plain as day. "Kate…why?" he asked, agony in his voice.

"This was going to happen either way." A wave of pain shot thoughout my body, and I tensed to ignore it. "Calliope got what she wanted. She won."

The stone and castle continued to rumble around us, shaking everything. Including Milo's cradle.

With what little strength I had, I reached for him, his cries of fear coming to me. Henry followed my gesture and grabbed that hand and put it back in my lap. "Is that – Is that baby…?"

A small smile touched my lips. "Yeah. He's your son." A light I'd never seen before shown I Henry's eyes, and a tear slipped down his cheek. "I…named him Milo. We can call him something else…" I stopped shot to cough and something hot and warm leaked from my lips. I didn't had to touch it and look to know it was blood.

Henry shook his head. "No. It's perfect. So are you."

The life from my body was draining fast, so I had to make him promise… "Henry…promise." I reached up and touched his cheek, leaving a smear of my own blood there. He didn't seem to mind, instead he held it there. "Promise you won't leave him. He needs you. I can't… I need you to love him for both of us."

Another tear fell from his face, and this time it splashed on my cheek. "You aren't leaving me, Kate. Remember: you are the reason I decided not to fade – _to live_. You are the Queen I need to rule my realm, the wife I've always needed to stand by my side."

He was right. If I died, then what was keeping him from letting himself fade?

And then, I knew.

"You won't fade," I said slowly, for it was getting harder and harder to talk with every breath I took.

"I couldn't promise that." He kissed my knuckles. "Not without you here."

Another cough erupted through my chest, but I fought to get the words out anyway. "You won't… You have Milo now." His eyes widened with realization. Finally, he understood. "You will have to protect him now; to love him, to hold him when he cries, and to…to tell him stories of us when he can understand them."

His body shook as his grip on my hand clenched harder. But I didn't feel the pain, I couldn't feel anything now. I was numb. Vibrating at a rate that made me feel cold and yet nothing at all. And I was okay with that.

"Promise…" I whispered, barely able to get the words out as a poison spread through my body. I wrapped my hand with his, squeezing it as best as I could. "Promise you won't leave him to her. She will never love him like I do."

Is silver eyes met mine as focused only on me, his withering wife. "I promise you, Kate Winters, that I will stay with him. Whatever it takes."

I smiled. "And promise…promise you will live, that you won't fade."

Slowly, like it pained him to do so, he nodded. "I promise."

Slowly, and gently, he leaned down a captured my lips with his. He poured his love and soul into the last kiss we'd share and I wanted to hold him and never let go. It was so soft and gentle I thought for a moment that it would bring me back to life. But I wouldn't. Nothing could have kept Calliope's dagger from taking my life, nothing could have stopped me from wanting death so long as I saved the ones I loved; not even Theo could heal me, not when I was already gone.

_Be safe, Kate. _

Henry's words whispered in my mind and, for the last few moments of life, I wondered what they could mean.

**How was it? Good? Okay? I sure hope it wasn't bad…?**

**Let me know. Please? I was hesitant to write this in the first place. I'm gunna need some encouragement to write more. **

**Thanks! R&R**

**-Aly**


	2. Chapter 2

**Sorry it took so long. Long story short, I'm starting to take my BF up on his offer to clip the flashdrive to my pants so I STOP LOSING IT!**

**Here's the next chapter!**

**Henry**

My heart was broken. Although it may have been cold as ice for the last centuries, it was shattered. There was nothing that could fix it. Not after what has happened to Kate.

How did this happen? Kate wasn't supposed to be in danger. She was never supposed to be involved in our war. We started this; by putting Cronus in Tartarus, we started a war long before the humans were created.

I held Kate close, ignoring the roars of battle overhead. She was growing cold. Colder than my heart before she got a hold on it; her gentle touch, her kind and devoted words, she stubbornness that could easily surpass that of her sister's or her mother's – I needed all of that from her. I needed her here with me, and nothing anyone could say or do would change that.

Suddenly, someone appeared in the doorway, the one that had crumpled and was now a pile of stone and rubble. "What a shame. The little princess got her prince, but not her happy ending."

My blood boiled. The reason Kate was dead, the reason my heart was broken, and the reason our son would live his days without a mother was standing in that doorway. Everything that she's done, everything that she's taken from me – it was her. Calliope.

I stood slowly, carefully lifting Kate with me. "What more could you take from me, Calliope, my sister? You've taken every potential girl that could save me from fading, and now you've taken the only woman I will ever love. What more do you want?"

"I've already told you all that I've wanted. I wanted you, Henry. You and I…we understand each other, better than she ever could. This was the only way to make you see that." I hear her heels click as she stepped closer, but not toward me. "Don't worry, brother. I will take this little beast off your hands."

Milo. Rage spilled from my pores; how dare she talk about Kate's son – _my son_ – that way. And she thought she could just _take him_?

The power I have wielded for eons surrounded me like a cloak, and from it a tentacle of pure energy, black and swirling, snaked toward her and smacked her across the room, away from Milo's bassinette. Her body hit the wall where her and Kate had fought, and this time it crumbled around her.

Did she really think I was going to let her take Milo? That I was willingly handing him over after what she's done? I knew I couldn't defeat her, not with my open wound and the little strength I had left, so I was going to have to play this smart.

It didn't take her long to emerge from the rubble, looked outraged.

"We could have had a family, Henry, long before those girls tried and failed to steal your heart."

I sighed, almost bored of this conversation. "Until you took their lives before they had a chance."

I heard her take another step, but then hesitated. She feared what I would do. Good.

"You will not touch that child, Calliope. He is Henry's son and he will remain that way. You could never love another child."

My back was to my sister; I looked up from Kate's still face and found my family before me. A collective look of horror struck the Council – or what was left of it. It was Walker who had spoken. Those who agreed to join the battle stood before me.

"Kate!" Diana was there by my side in a flash. Her eyes were wide with horror as she took her daughter from me, cradling her close as tears sprang from her eyes. Dylan stood behind her, putting a comforting hand on her should while glaring hard over mine. Glaring at Calliope, his mother.

"Go." My voice was menacing, and for a minute I didn't recognize that it was mine. Of all the years of frustration and anger that I've been through, I have never been so mad, so betrayed, and something like this will never happen again.

Diana looked up from her daughter, tear streaks staining her face. "Wh-What? Henry…you can't be serious. You can't stay here alone."

I ignored her, and turned to the bassinette just a few feet away. I gently took the squirming baby boy into my arms, relishing in the warmth that he brought to my body when I held him close, and my heart – something normally only Kate could do. Milo – a perfect name for him – stopped squirming and opened his eyes. Blue like his mother's and his dark hair proved that he was also mine. A perfect blend of us both.

I never took my gaze from my son. "I won't be alone, and I can't leave Milo. I'm staying."

Diana gasped, and the Council stood stone still. "He…He's…"

I nodded, not needing her to finish to know what she was trying to ask. "And I promised Kate that I wouldn't leave him. It…It was her last wish." I refused to show another tear – not in front of Calliope.

"But, Henry, you can't just-"

"Go!" I roared, and the power behind it shook the walls.

The other Council members disappeared with a fair amount of hesitation. Diana lingered. Clutching Kate close to her chest, she said telepathically, _Our sadness will not be our weakness, brother. I will be our strength._

Then she was gone. And with her, our last hope to keep Kate alive. I cradled a whaling Milo close to my chest, praying against all prayer that Milo will grow up with a mother, and that I will have a wife at my side. With a tiny smile snaking its way on his lips, Henry thought, It is a good thing Theo knows what to do before it's too late.

Kate

I was sure that I was dead. My entire being felt cold and uncollected as I told Henry my last wish, and as he whispered his to me. What did it mean?

Something else that I was sure of was the fact that I had somehow stuck around – I was like a ghost that no one could see. It reminded me of my visions – being able to venture from my body and see others even though they had no clue I was there. The only difference is I had learned to control them and venture to and from my body what I pleased. This was different. I couldn't get back. Now that I gaze unnoticed at my mother tending to me at my bedside, I was unsure of what was happening to me, but sure that I was still alive. Somewhat.

My body lay still, arms set delicately on the bed with a blanket over my – _her_ – waist and legs. My mothers, looking worried and exhausted, wrung out a small cloth and dabbed the girl's face gently, muttering her name. My name.

"Oh, Kate." She sounded as tired as she looked, and I wanted nothing more than to usher her to bed, but when I reached out to touch her, my hand when right through her. Always frustrating. "We are so worried about you, darling," my mother continued. "And I'm worried about…about Henry. He looked so broken when we left him." Her face twisted in pain. "Goodness, Kate, please forgive me. I didn't want to leave him there, but I was so worried about you that I-"

She paused abruptly when my hand hovered very close to her shoulder, something I did for Milo to let him know that I was there when he wasn't near me. "Mom, it's okay. I'm sure Henry forced you away, and I know that if he's keeping his promise that both him and Milo are safe."

Her eyes slowly dragged over her shoulder at me, looking right at me, but at the same time right through me. Could she see me?

She muttered something in a language that I wasn't familiar with, but it almost sounded Greek. "K-Kate?"

My eyes widened in surprise. "Mom? Can…Can you hear me?"

Her gaze returned to the body on the bed, chest rising at falling rhythmically. "But…You're laying right here…_alive_. Then how…?"

"Mom!" I called to her, frantic to make her hear me. She jumped in surprise and turned to me – my ghost form. I don't know if she could see me, but she definitely heard me that time.

"Kate! Is that really you? Where are you?" She looked around the room, panicking slightly. Despite her sudden spike of adrenaline, she tired face never faltered.

I stood no more than a foot from her. "I'm right here, mom; right in front of you?"

Again, she looked right at me, but right through me. She surprised face dropped to a frown. "Kate, I-"

"Am I…alive? Like, really live?" I peered around her at the still body. "Because, from where I'm standing, it doesn't look like it."

She sighed and sat heavily in her chair. "You're in a comatose state – similar to the one my human body was in when I was sick. It was the only way we could keep you alive – to keep your heart beating."

"But…the dagger… How did this happen? Was it…?"

My mother nodded. "It was poisoned. With Cronus' power and blood. That is, after all, the only thing that can kill a god or goddess: the power of a Titan." She could barely allow the words to pass her lips as her eye lids slid closed. It was obvious she hadn't rested since their fight with Cronus.

I knelt in front of her chair, letting my hand hover just over her knee. "You need to rest. You're exhausted."

A faint smile appeared on her lips. "Henry would be proud of you, Kate. You figured out how to use Henry's power to come back to us. The power he lent you wasn't much, but I was enough for your spirit to remain until Thoe could keep you stable."

Henry's power? What was she talking about?

"_Be safe, Kate."_

Henry's words whispered to me… That's what he had meant! He knew I was going to be okay. He must have given me some of his power, hoping it would keep me alive.

Henry. And Milo.

"Mom, where are they? Where are Henry and Milo?"

Her smile immediately disappeared. She had said something about leaving his somewhere. "I'm so sorry, Kate. Henry…he stayed behind with Calliope. He knew he didn't have the strength to return, but he was determined to keep his promise to you."

No… Then, he's trapped there. All because I took some of his power. A few-found determination filled me as I stood and looked from her to my physical body on the bed.

"Then I guess it's time I woke up."

**Dun Dun Dun!**

**What will happen next? How will Kate wake up? Can she learn to control Henry's immense power?**

**Find out in the next update!**

**Thanks! R&R**

**-Aly**


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